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"If we're destroyed—if we all die—the concepts and ideals of the New Order will die with us. But if we surrender, we can keep those ideals alive. Then, if and when the New Republic self destructs, we'll be positioned to rise again."

The Fel Empire,[1] also called the Fel Imperium, the Empire or the New Order with a Personal Face, was the name given to what remained of the Galactic Empire some time after 44 ABY, following the ascension of Jagged Fel to the throne. It reflected the partial recovery of the Galactic Empire's former power and prestige, and also the restoration of the Imperial monarchy by the Fel dynasty after decades of interregnum.[1]

Palpatine's Empire and the Fel Empire shared many characteristics, such as the Moffs' Council, centralised rule, the Force-sensitivity of the Emperor, and, to a certain extent, xenophobia. However, unlike Palpatine, the Fels encouraged the proliferation of light-side Force-users, even forming a Jedi Order analogue known as the Imperial Knights.

By the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, the "Galactic" Empire had actually become a member state of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. This also eventually allowed Gilad Pellaeon to succeed Sien Sovv as Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force, signifying the level of cooperation and integration of the former galactic government with the new one, at least at that time period. The appointment of former Imperial General Turr Phennir, however, as the Supreme Commander of the combined Confederation military may indicate the existence of secessionist sympathizers within the semi-autonomous Empire.

At some point, the One Sith sabotaged the Ossus Project, a massive reconstruction effort employing Yuuzhan Vong-terraforming techniques to restore worlds devastated by the Vong War, to the detriment of the planets' inhabitants and killing millions in the process. The Galactic Alliance soon found itself facing a secession movement mirroring that of the Separatists during the Clone Wars. The Empire used this situation to entice Alliance member worlds to secede and become part of Imperial space. But the Empire wanted all of the Alliance worlds, including its capital.

Roan Fel, Emperor during the War

Eventually, the Moff Council, at the behest of High MoffMorlish Veed and MoffNyna Calixte, invoked the Treaty of Anaxes against the will of Emperor Roan Fel, and in 127 ABY, the Sith-Imperial War broke out, and the One Sith allied with the Empire. The war resulted in the fall of the Alliance and the reestablishment of the Empire as the primary galactic government. The remnants of the Alliance were absorbed into the Empire, but the Galactic Alliance Core Forces remained, and continued to fight the resurgent Empire. Shortly after the fall of the Alliance the Emperor called upon the entire New Jedi Order to surrender and subject their will to the Empire. Some of them did, becoming Imperial Knights, while the others held to the will of the Force and retreated to Ossus.

"Roan Fel never really embraced the war or the idea of a unified galaxy. He went along with it as a political necessity. That's not what the Empire—what the galaxy—needs. The galaxy writhes in chaos and disorder. It requires a man of vision. I am that man of vision. I am the new Emperor."

After the Alliance defeat and the Massacre at Ossus, the Sith under the command of Darth Krayt turned against Emperor Roan Fel. He launched a daring coup, marching with his cohorts straight into Fel's audience chamber himself, and killing the man who sat on the throne. After the man's death, Krayt sat himself in his place. Noting the confusion and outrage from the members of the Moff Council who were present, he laid out the facts of life for them.

Faced with little choice, the Moff Council swore loyalty to him. For the first time since Darth Caedus, a Sith Lord held the galactic seat of power. At once he set about imposing order on a galaxy that sorely needed it, but this too was an incomplete victory. The "Emperor" he had killed had been a double; the real Fel was a fully trained Imperial Knight and would surely have defended himself, rather than just stand there and let himself be slain. It was imperative that the real Fel be found before he recruited allies among the Moffs, the military, or those Jedi who had survived the massacre at Ossus.

Not all of the Empire recognized Darth Krayt's authority. Over the years, forces loyal to Fel gathered on Bastion, awaiting the return of their true Emperor. With the Imperial Knights leader Antares Draco and the 501st Legion commander GeneralOron Jaeger at his side, Fel took control of the planet in 137 ABY, knowing that Krayt would be wary to amass a frontal assault on the heavily fortified planet. With the Fel Empire a thing of the past, Fel led an Empire-in-exile. As the factions of Krayt and Fel grew larger, units that once served with each other were now forced to fight against one another for control of territory around the galaxy.

For the first time, women and Non-Humans worked alongside Human men in the military of the Fel Empire.

The Empire was ruled by an Emperor, a sovereign ruler for life, yet the Moff Council held considerable power, and advised him. By all accounts, the reign of Roan Fel was relatively benevolent, and had far less of the abuses of power and tyrannical excesses of the Empire under Palpatine, though he was not above playing power games for the sake of maintaining his authority.

By the time of Fel's reign, the Empire's infamous bigotry against non-Human species had faded to the point that stormtroopers had aliens among their ranks and the Imperial Navy had at least one non-Human admiral, namely the Kel DorSha Dun.

The Imperial Knights were former Jedi who, while technically remaining on the Light Side of the Force, owed their loyalty to the Emperor rather than to the Force itself after the events of the Sith-Imperium War. They acted as bodyguards to the Emperor, although they also had orders to immediately kill the Emperor should the latter irrevocably fall to the Dark Side.

The capital of the Empire was originally Bastion but it was moved to Coruscant, keeping in tradition with the previous galactic governments. However, Bastion continued to play an important role in Imperial affairs.

In Star Wars Insider 87, John Ostrander describes the Fel Empire as "not as inherently evil [as the earlier Empire], but still not a republic, not a democracy. It's the rule of the few, or the one, over the many. It has a lot of strengths; it has a substantial amount of weaknesses. It values power more than anything else."

The term "A New Order with a Personal Face" recalls the old Hungarian and 1960s communist movements in former Czechoslovakia and western Europe, who used the phrase "Socialism with a human face" to try to differentiate themselves from the Soviet bloc.